Almond Milk (Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Sugar Free)

This may come as a shock to some of you, but I have a confession: until recently, I had never tried making my own almond milk. I had always been very choosy about which almond milk brands I would buy in stores, and there are a few (maybe two) that I would drink on a somewhat regular basis. But still, there are ingredients in these products that I would rather not consume if I had the choice—and now I do have a choice!

I understand that most store-bough almond milk brands have to consider shelf life, so they have to include ingredients that essentially work as preservatives to make their product hold up on store shelves. Even the "cleanest" almond milks have some sort of stabilizer/preservative ingredient -- there's just no way around it in today's modern industrial food era.

However, if you drink almond milk (or any nut milk for that matter) on the regular, it makes so much more sense to do it yourself. In the fridge, it lasts about 4 days, and the amount that is in this recipe lasts less than that for a household of two people, so you'll never have to worry about it going bad (therefore, no need for nasty preservatives). No shelf life to worry about, no added weird ingredients.

Just another reason why making things yourself almost always ends up better for your in the long run. Plus, if you buy your almonds in bulk, you're saving yourself money almond milk yourself! This is a win win in my book.

Also, there's something really beautiful and organic about filling a jar with milk you just made and putting it in your fridge for later. Every time I pull the jug out of the fridge to pour in my smoothie or to have with granola, I feel so at peace knowing exactly what's in this almond milk, and that it's 100% natural and clean.

I hope to experiment with other non-dairy/dairy-free milks in the near future! I'm planning to give hemp milk a try next I think. I'll keep you all posted. But for now, here's the recipe for my super easy homemade almond milk.

Almond Milk

Serves: Makes 5 cups almond milk

Ingredients

1 cup organic raw almonds

5 cups filtered water

1 pinch sea salt or Real Salt

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

In a large bowl, soak almonds in very hot water for about 1 hour.

After almonds are finished soaking, drain the water.

In a high-speed blender, add drained almonds, 5 cups filtered water, vanilla extract, and salt. Blend on high for about 2 minutes.

Cover a mesh strainer with a cheese cloth or thin dish towel, and place over a large bowl.

Pour almond milk from blender into the cloth-covered strainer and let it strain into the large bowl.

Gather the sides of the cloth together and squeeze to push out the milk, separating it from the almond pulp. Get rid of almond pulp or save for another purpose.

Pour remaining almond milk into an air-tight bottle or jar, and store in the refrigerator.